Insurers revolt ahead of Finance vote

No matter what else happens, this week will be defined by the Senate Finance Committee vote on health reform.

And that’s why the knives are coming out in advance of that tally. The health insurance industry is releasing a damaging report today warning that insurance premiums will rise. Bob Dole has demanded – successfully – that the DNC drop an ad depicting him as favoring the Senate bill. And the White House is fighting back, accusing the insurance industry of misleading people on the impact of the Senate bill.

Story Continued Below

It’s Monday morning, and welcome to The Huddle.

*** Every day, the 28,000 people of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) transform crops into food and energy products that serve vital needs of a growing world. For more information, visit http://www.adm.com. ***

REID TRAILS IN POLL: It seems like Harry Reid is going to be trailing in polls no matter how obscure his potential GOP opponent may be. From CongressDaily: “Another poll shows Senate Majority Leader Reid in re-election trouble, with either former Republican Party Central Committee Chairwoman Sue Lowden or real estate developer Danny Tarkanian leading him in general election matchups, according to a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll published today.

Lowden is favored 49-39 percent over Reid while Tarkanian is just barely beyond a statistical tie with 48 percent against Reid's 43 percent in a Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. poll with a 4.5-point error margin. …" Sen. Reid has never put much stock in polls. The Republican candidates in this race are still supporting many of the policies that got us into the mess that Sen. Reid is working every day to get us out of," said Reid campaign manager Brandon Hall."

PUBLIC OPTION LITE? It may be watered down, but Democrats will still gladly call whatever they get a ‘public option.’ From POLITICO’s Carrie Budoff Brown: “Senate Democrats are growing increasingly bold in predicting a public health insurance option will pass Congress this year, defying months of pessimism and outright opposition from party moderates. But it’s not the ‘public option’ you think. … At this point, Senate Democrats are signaling they could get behind just about anything they could plausibly call the public option — from a ‘trigger’ that could kick in a public insurance plan later, to Delaware Sen. Tom Carper’s proposal to give states an option to create a government program. Liberals who’ve long distrusted private insurers and dreamed of a nationwide, government-run insurance plan see it as a cave-in. Senate leaders see something different — a path to 60 votes for the first time all year.”

INSURERS BITE BACK: It’s not surprising that the insurance industry is launching a last minute fight against the Senate Finance Bill. From The Washington Post’s Ceci Connolloy: “After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected.

“The critique, coming one day before a critical Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration. It also signaled an end to the fragile detente between two central players in this year's health-care reform drama. “Industry officials said they intend to circulate the report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Capitol Hill and promote it in new advertisements. That could complicate Democratic hopes for action on the legislation this week.”

HUFFINGTON: OUST RANGEL: POLITICO's Glenn Thrush picks up on dissent from the left: “"They should decide it on Monday morning,” said Huffington, whose site is among the most read on the left. “He should step down from his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee if they want to improve their chances for 2010. Otherwise, they might see their approval rating come down to single digits.”

“Rangel's support among his fellow House Democrats, with a couple of exceptions, is strong -- and he's widely liked across the aisle, despite repeated GOP attempts to push him out. But Huffington's impatience represents a dangerous new trend for the embattled Harlem Democrat, as reform-minded liberals increasingly see him as a drag on their agenda.”

WEAK ON GITMO? The Obama administration is been unable to live up on its promise to close Guantanamo, as Evan Perez writes in The Wall Street Journal: “President Barack Obama's order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January faces snags in Congress that some of the president's supporters say result from a lack of White House muscle.

“The Obama administration won a measure of support last week when House and Senate negotiators agreed on a joint Homeland Security appropriations bill that allows Guantanamo prisoners to be transferred to the U.S. for prosecution if the administration provides a plan for handling each detainee case.”

AFGHAN SURGE: John McCain has thrown himself in with the 40,000 surge, as Keith Koffler reports in Roll Call: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said that President Barack Obama must agree to a request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal — who is reportedly seeking about 40,000 new troops for Afghanistan — and that failure to heed his advice would be “an error of historic proportions.”

McCain, who appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” charged that the “great danger” inherent in Obama’s deliberations about strategy and troop levels in Afghanistan is a “half measure” that would “try to please all ends of the political spectrum.” The White House has in the past denied that political considerations would inform Obama’s decision. Obama himself said last week his decision is likely to anger those at both ends of the political debate.

CLIMATE CHANGE PUSH: Add this to an already complicated agenda – increasing pressure for Obama to take a stand on global warming legislation. From Juliet Eilperin and Mike Shear at The Washington Post: “President Obama is coming under renewed pressure internationally and in the United States to throw his weight behind climate-change legislation, which advocates fear has suffered in light of the president's sweeping domestic agenda.

“The Nobel committee's announcement Friday that Obama won the Peace Prize was a fresh reminder that much of the world expects him to lead the way toward a global climate pact. The committee cited his "more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges." And in Washington, advocates are clamoring for more evidence that Obama will make good on his campaign promise to impose the first-ever national cap on greenhouse gases. Last week, the leading author of Senate climate legislation sought personal assurances from Obama during an Oval Office meeting, saying he wanted to "hear it from him directly" as he pushed ahead.”

GAY RIGHTS DISAPPPOINTMENT: Thousands marched on Washington Sunday, but many in the movement remain disappointed that Obama and Congress have done nothing on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan: “All I can say is: the president gave a speech he could have given at any point in the last three years. No one in that room could disagree with any of the things he said. I sure don't (with the exception of the hate crimes hooey). And he said it well and movingly. Like we didn't know he could do that.

“But the point of electing a president who pledged to actually do things is to hold him to account, and to see if he is willing to take any risk of any kind to actually do something. I had a few prior tests of his seriousness or signs that he gets it, a few ways to judge if this speech had anything new or specific or clear. He failed every test.”

ALAN GRAYSON: ROCKSTAR? In case you missed it over the weekend, Rep. Alan Grayson was the star of the Florida Democratic Party convention. From the AP: “Weeks after his harsh remarks toward the GOP, a Florida congressman's popularity with Democrats isn't dying quickly.

“U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who said late last month that Republicans' health care plans amount to wanting sick people to "die quickly," told a wildly enthusiastic crowd of about 2,000 Democrats Saturday that the GOP should change its name to "The Selfish Party."

The first-term congressman from Orlando was given a standing ovation for his remarks at the Florida Democratic Party's annual convention. People stood in line to take pictures with him and gush over him, and a room where he was later part of a panel discussion had to be doubled in size because turnout was twice what was expected. Grayson ate up the attention. He was introduced at the panel discussion as "the rock star" and Grayson stood up and jokingly said, "I'm Barack Obama."

WJLA WASHINGTON WEATHER: Columbus Day will be filled with sunshine and abundant high clouds with temperatures near 60 degrees. An approaching front approaching may lead to a stray shower overnight, mainly north, and then its breezes will bump temperatures into the upper 60s Tuesday.

*** Every day, the 28,000 people of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) transform crops into food and energy products that serve vital needs of a growing world. For more information, visit http://www.adm.com. ***

About The Author

Marty Kady grew up in a newspaper family, and rumor has it that instead of placing a football in his crib, his parents put a reporter’s notebook and a pen next to him shortly after he was born in 1971.

Before becoming editor of POLITICO Pro, Kady was congressional editor for POLITICO and has also served as a congressional reporter, deputy Congress editor and author of The Huddle, POLITICO’s early morning congressional news digest. He joined POLITICO in July 2007, seven months after the company launched.

Kady also spent five years at Congressional Quarterly, where he covered congressional leadership, intelligence, foreign policy and homeland security. He did earlier reporting stints at the Washington Business Journal, the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina and Potomac News in Woodbridge, Va.

Kady graduated from the University of Virginia in 1993 with a B.A. in foreign affairs and worked on his college newspaper, the Cavalier Daily.